All Night Long

parked in front of a closed garage. The window was conveniently lowered on the driver’s side. A garage door opener was clippe o the visor.
    He reached inside the vehicle and depressed the button. The garage door rumbled open in response.
    A heavy, silver SUV was parked inside.
    Luke went forward to take a closer look. The finish on the front of the vehicle was badly dinged and chipped in several places. Myriad spiderweb cracks marred the windshield.
    He heard the front door of the house open.
    “What the hell are you doing in my garage, Danner?” Sam McPherson called out from the top of the steps.
    Luke went to stand in the garage opening. “Out of curiosity, were you just trying to scare Irene to death the other day when you chased her on Lakefront Road, or did you intend to kill her?”
    Sam came down the steps. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
    “That SUV looks like it went through a bad hailstorm.”
    Sam scowled. “Some kids stole it. Took it joyriding. I haven’t had a chance to take it in to Carpenter’s garage.”
    “How long have you been doing favors for your older brother, Sam?”
    Sam looked as if he’d been punched in the gut. “What?”
    “We’re going to talk. Either we do it out here where your neighbors can watch, or we go inside and do this in private. Your choice.”
    “Why should I talk to you?”
    “Because I knowyou’re Ryland Webb’s half brother. I figure it was you who called him seventeen years ago to warn him that Pamela had given the video to Elizabeth Stenson. Did he ask you to burn dow he Webb house the other night? Or did he drive up here to do the job himself?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sam rasped, unnerved now. “Get out of here.”
    “Must have been hard watching your brother get the benefits of being a legitimate Webb all these years. Ryland was the golden boy, wasn’t he? The local crown prince. You never told anyone that you had just as much Webb blood in your veins as he did. Why was that, Sam? Was it because Victor Webb paid your mother to keep the secret, and after she was gone you felt you had to do the same?”
    Sam made fists of both hands. “Shut up.”
    “You seem to do okay on a small-town police chief’s salary.” Luke angled his head toward the garage. “Nice new car. House in a good neighborhood.”
    “I don’t have to listen to this.”
    “Yeah, you do have to listen, Sam.” Luke started toward him. “Because the way I figure it, you’re an accessory to at least three murders, maybe four. I’m not sure about Hoyt Egan yet. It’s possible tha our brother handled that one all by himself.”
    “You can’t prove anything.”
    “That’s what your brother keeps saying. But you’ll notice that he’s going down in flames. Won’t b ong before he breaks. If you didn’t help him commit any of the murders, you’d better be prepared to prove it.”
    “I don’t have to prove a damn thing,” Sam said.
    “You’re wrong. You’d better prove to me that you didn’t try to force Irene off the road into the lak he other day, or I’m going to take you apart.”
    Sam’s face worked. “For God’s sake, man, I didn’t try to kill her. Why the hell would I do a thing like that?”
    “Maybe because Ryland Webb asked you to do it?”
    Sam’s eyes hardened. “I don’t take orders from Ryland Webb, damn you.”
    “Pamela trusted you, didn’t she? You were her uncle, after all. Not like she had a lot of close family to turn to. The day she gave the video to Elizabeth Stenson, she confided in you. She told you that Ryland had abused her for years and that the secret was about to come out. But instead of honoring your niece’s trust, you called your brother and warned him about what was going to happen.”
    “No, damn you, I didn’t call Ryland.”
    “Did you kill them yourself, McPherson?”
    “No.” Sam looked as if he were drowning in a sea of anguish. “God help me, I didn’t believe Pamel hat day. I thought she made up the story about being abused because she wanted to get back at Ryland for sending her away to boarding school. I didn’t know what was on that video she gave to Elizabeth Stenson, but I was afraid that Pamela was about to create a lot of trouble for herself and the family. So I did the only thing I could think of.”
    All the dots were connected now. Ice sleeted through Luke’s veins.
    “You didn’t call Ryland,” Luke said. “You called your father,